2 Challenges, criticality and creativity

“To solve problems it is necessary to dream – to play with possible futures and relive past dilemmas, in order to explore both our hopes and our despairs.” (Jones, 2003, 10)

Principles of problem-posing (Freire, 2011) and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) (Barrows and Tamblyn, 1980) are utilised and have been designed into the learning process. Such an approach signalises a shift from a “content-driven curriculum to “context-driven” and from “theory to practice” to “practice to theory” that has the potential to engage you from the outset and throughout in critical thinking also when using and learning with GenAI (Bates and Bozkurt, 2025). There is evidence that suggests that creative thinking is a vital ingredient to boost critical thinking to identify and solve problems for example as well as propose novel solutions (Affandy et al., 2024).

The module appropriated the 5A framework of creativity for instructional design (West et al., 2025, 23-24, based on Glăveanu, 2013):

• “Actors: You the students are the actors and will be actively driving your learning. You will have choice and work on open-ended challenges. Use your creativity and criticality!
• Actions: You will be focusing on the learning process. You are expected to experiment, to critically reflect. It will be messy and not everything will work, but everything will present a valuable learning opportunity. So important when making creative breakthroughs!
• Artifacts: On your own and in collaboration with others, you are invited to create artifacts as part of your inquiry on the challenges you will be exploring. This is very much part of learning through making. Making something new and of value. Be inventive!
• Audience: The challenges and any further work you will be doing will be authentic and link directly to your practice. Keep in mind, when engaging with peers, tutors and others outside the module community that interactions with others who may think differently present diverse opportunities for rich conversation and critique that help us make new and novel connections. Have an open mind!
• Affordances: Develop your capacity to use digital tools and technologies to maximise on the affordances they bring and limitations they will have. Do the same with GenAI. Try something new! Stretch and challenge yourself and see what you can learn from this creative exploration. Give it a go! And another one!”

Be mindful that while we often talk about what creativity is and that we perceive creativity as something humans and living beings do (it wasn’t and isn’t always conceptualised in this way in all cultures and throughout time, see Niu and Sternberg (2006), we are starting to talk about where creativity is and that GenAI may create new forms of creativity through the coming together of human and machine (Celis Bueno et al. 2025). The AI Swiss (2025) White Paper provides valuable food for thought to consider creativity also in relation to human and AI collaboration and co-thinking. Please engage with some of these publications to further deepen your understanding in these concepts and areas of inquiry.